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Lesson Note

Subject: BST

Topic: Health And Child Care

Subtopic: Health and Health Institutions

Class: JS3

Term: First

Objectives: By the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to:

  1. Define the term health;
  2. State atleast four ways of improving health;
  3. Mention some health institutions;
  4. State the general functions of health institutions;
  5. List the three major health control divisions.

Lesson Summary/Discussions

Meaning of Health

A wise saying has it that “Health is wealth”, in fact, the wealth of a nation is determined by how healthy the citizens of that nation are or how seriously that nation takes its health sector.

Definition: Health can simply be defined as the state of mental, social, emotional, psychological and physical activities of the body.
Personal health as defined by World Health Organization (WHO) is the state of physical, mental,emotional, psychological, social and even spiritual well being of the whole body.
Health is more than just the absence of diseases or personal hygiene. It entails the general well being of the physical body, mind and soul.

In order to avoid contracting ommon diseases such as measles, chicken pox, Small pox, whooping cough, which are caused by pathogens or micro-organisms like fungus, virus, protozoan and algae in the environment, one must keep one’s surrounding clean always. This is because these micro-organisms breed in dirty environment. One must also know that these diseases are transmitted by other disease carrying organisms known as vectors of which examples are housefly, black fly, tselse fly, mosquito.

WAYS OF IMPROVING OUR HEALTH

We can improve our health by doing the following:

  1. Maintaining personal cleanliness.
  2. Eating a balanced diet regularly.
  3. Avoiding harmful habits like smoking, drinking, alcohol, drug abuse, ctc.
  4. Keeping good sanitary environment.
  5. Exercising our body regularly.

HEALTH INSTITUTIONS
The health institutions are charged with the responsibility of executing health schemes. In order to achieve this goal, they collaborate with the ministry of information who help in disseminating information to the public by sensitising them on public health.

The various institutions in charge of health include:

  1. The Ministry of Health
  2. Public Health Authorities
  3. Ministry of water Resources
  4. Natural Drug law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
  5. Red Cross
  6. Ministry of Environment
  7. Natural Environment
  8. Standard Organisation
  9. Various Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) in charge of various health issues.

GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF THE HEALTH INSTITUTIONS
Some of the functions of the health institutions inctude:

  1. Provision of clean water.
  2. Provision of incincrator for refuse disposals and the conversion of some wastes into manure for agricultural use.
  3. Protection of food by checking and regulating the standards of industrial manufactured foods like canned foods.
  4. Control of diseases by vaccinating or inoculating against deadly diseases like small pox, chicken pox, poliomyelitis, measles, yellow fever etc.
  5. Educating the public on the effects of contagious diseases.
  6. Sending sanitary labourers to clean up streets, clear drains, etc.
  7. Making sure houses are built according to the recommended plan.

HEALTH CONTROL DIVISIONS
There are three (3) main divisions under the ministry of health that are responsible for the control of diseases in a country.

These are:

  • The protective division
  • The sanitary division
  • The medical division

These divisions have departments and representatives in all urban and rural areas. The medical division includes the natural health service, which employs trained medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, mid-wives, matrons, etc.

Lesson Evaluation

  1. Define the term health.
  2. State atleast four ways of improving health.
  3. Mention some health institutions.
  4. What are the general functions of health institutions.
  5. List the three major health control divisions.

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